Spanish singer Lia Pamina has recently offered up a few releases on the seminal Elefant Records label and now that I've caught up with these fine records, I'm here to tell you how wonderful the work of this singer is.
Single "Better Off Without You" purrs like an Astrud Gilberto classic, but it's flip "Record Collection" that thoroughly charmed me. The clever lyrical concerns about "...being alone with my record collection" indicate a sort of self-awareness that I liked, even if Lia's breathy vocals carried the light-as-air tune into the stratosphere. The track is that rare cut that manages to please both intellectually and emotionally.
Even more excellent is the Sycamore Tree EP whose title cut sees Lia sing a Sixties-influenced vocal-line over what amounts to a nice mix of bubblegum pop and something more refined. If "One Step" very clearly nods in the direction of Margo Guryan, the direct "Wrap Your Love Around My Heart" echoes Broadcast numbers a tiny bit. Lia reveals herself to be a fine purveyor of this sort of thing and a number like this hints at future greatness from this singer as her music is sure to grow further into something less reliant on its influences.
Lia's final release of 2017 was the "The Boy I Used To Know" single, another breathy throwback to the Bacharach era. The flip-side here, "Cards On The Table", is one of the best things Lia's recorded so far, an elegant bit of chamber pop business that references with measured certainty artists as disparate as Mary Hopkin and John Barry. The number is such a well-crafted piece of indie-pop that a listener spends less time placing the references and more time basking in Lia's voice and her mastery of this sort of thing.
Admittedly, the appeal of Lia Pamina rests on how well she can crank out this sort of very obviously Sixties-styled pop, but her skills run deeper than just those of a revivalist. While lots here will appeal to fans of Margo Guryan, Broadcast, and The Cardigans, the songs will also charm anyone who loves a good hook and who appreciates a very classic sense of how pop should be constructed. On the basis of these singles that I caught up with, I think it's safe to say that Lia Pamina understands what a wonderful art form the great pop single can be. That she also knows how to make great pop singles is why she's a name to pay attention to.
More details on these releases from Lia Pamina via the Elefant Records website.